A Ride on the Train

by Kenneth A. Dupuy

Let's take an imagined trip on one of the first train rides from Abbeville to
New Iberia. Whether the person was young or old, sophisticated or naive, the
experience must have been exciting. For one thing, the train provided a speed
that few Abbevillians had ever experienced. There was much less dust and fewer
bumps than going by stagecoach, buggy, wagon or by horseback. Also, the view of
the passing scenery was from a somewhat higher vantage point than before. On the
trip, there was the rhythmic ticky-tac sound made as the steel wheels passed
over the spaces between the individual sections of rails. We mustn't forget the
authoritarian barker-like voice of the conductor announcing the train
departure—"All Aboard!"—at each station at which the train took on passengers.
The locomotive's long, high-pitched whistle and general mechanical grumblings
flew into the open windows, along with the soot and smoke whenever the wind was
blowing in the wrong direction. After awhile the distinctive voice of the
conductor would be heard commanding, "Tickets, please," as he entered each
passenger car. Then the snip, snip, snip sound would be heard as he punched each
passenger's ticket.

And what sights! The bystanders and friends and relatives of the passengers were
able to see the train as it reluctantly departed. The train struggled slowly and
laboriously to overcome inertia. Steam and smoke spewed out like labored breathe
on a frosty morning. The smoke and steam also seemed to express visually the
train's difficulties in getting started. Once the train was on its way, there
were wonderful sights for the passengers and crew. The cotton fields, appearing
like snowed-on crops, the pickers bowed down, as though paying homage to these
plants. The pickers would be wearing long-sleeved shirts to protect themselves
from the prickling parts of the plants.

There would be serpentine levees undulating across the rice fields—I'm uncertain
when such levees were first used in this part of the world. Also, travelers were
privy to seeing long-necked, white herons periscoping through the green seas of
young rice plants. Also, we mustn't forget the flocks of blackbirds moving about
like swirling mists.

In crossing through the towns along the way, passengers would spy boys with
beaming, curious faces waving at those on board, or testing their mettle as they
raced with the passing train. Most of these boys were probably dreaming of the
day when they would take their first rides on "the train," and into the future.

That trains helped Abbeville grow and prosper, there is no doubt. They helped to
move it along through the decades into the 1890s' future and into our present.
The railroad also assisted in the development of the western part of Vermilion
Parish. Those first proponents of rail service for Abbeville seemed to have had
grand foresight.